Global Justice in a Democratic World

This book offers a comparative analysis of the theories of justice developed by Rawls, Sen and Nussbaum, and aims to demonstrate their mutual relationship. All three liberal theories significantly enrich the set of fundamental principles of morality that concerns the sphere of political action. The novelty of Sen’s and Nussbaum’s capability approach in comparison with Rawls is that they discuss the problem of social justice on a global scale. They do not try to extend and adjust the two principles of justice to the whole of mankind, nor do they treat the difference principle as to be applied everywhere. Instead, they present their own cosmopolitan approach to applying their theories of justice to take into account issues which are neglected or insufficiently developed by Rawls, such as global inequalities, discrimination against women, the rights of people with disabilities, and animal rights. These theories can be described as an alternative to the crucial objection towards Rawls’ work that this theory of justice does not address these important global problems.